Bike to Work Day, World BioDiversity Day, World Turtle Day, and 2021 Eco-Comedy Award Winners

HAPPY BIKE TO WORK DAY!

Did you know the third Friday in May is Bike to Work Day? Well today is the third Friday in May, 2021, so Happy Bike to Work Day. Bike to Work Day is an annual event that promotes the bicycle as an option for commuting to work (bicycle commuting). It was originated by the League of American Bicyclists in 1956. Bike to Work Day begat Bike-to-Work Week, which begat National Bike Month. May is National Bike Month, by the way.

The league of American bicyclists began as the League of American Wheelmen back in May, 1880.

According to its website, the LAB “represents bicyclists in the movement to create safer roads, stronger communities, and a Bicycle Friendly America.” Part of its  its mission “a commitment is to listen and learn, define standards and share best practices to engage diverse communities and build a powerful, unified voice for change.”

Why Bike to Work Day matters to us is, well biking. It’s far more climate-friendly than internal combustion engine vehicles. Plus bikes promote exercise and good health. And according to an old Maori saying, “you can’t have a healthy planet if you don’t have a healthy body.”

DEEPER DIVE: LAB.org, Wikipedia, Planetary Health Alliance

HAPPY WORLD BIODIVERSITY DAY!

We won’t be with you all tomorrow, so we’re going to wish you a happy World Biodiversity day, one day early.

“Happy World Biodiversity Day!” um, what exactly is World Biodiversity Day? SO glad you asked!  World Biodiversity Day is a United Nations–sanctioned  international day for the promotion of biodiversity issues — and it’s celebrated every May 22.

World Biodiversity Day was conceived in 1993 by the Second Committed of the UN General Assembly. Actually, until 2000, it used to be celebrated in December, on Dec  29th, the date in 1993 when The Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) went into effect. The CBD is a multilateral treaty with three main goals: conservation of biodiversity); sustainable use of its components; and fair and equitable sharing of benefits arising from genetic resources.

Basically, CBD’s objective is to develop national strategies for the conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity, and it is often seen as the key document regarding sustainable development.

Oh, yeah…the date change? In December 2000, the date was shifted partly to avoid the many holidays that occur in late December. So here we are. Saturday, May 22, 2021 will be Happy World Biodiversity Day! And we’ll be celebrating, “The World We Want: A Future for All”. 

DEEPER DIVE: Wikipedia, UN Decade on Biodiversity

HAPPY WORLD TURTLE DAY!

Hey, Not to be outdone, this Sunday is World Turtle Day! World Turtle Day was started in 1990, and since 2000, the American Tortoise Rescue has been its global sponsor. 

The purpose of World Turtle Day, is to bring attention to, and increase knowledge of and respect for, turtles and tortoises, and encourage human action to help them survive and thrive.  World Turtle Day is among the most effective of species awareness days in increasing the search for information on turtles online. 

Turtle and tortoise lovers show their appreciation of the special day by taking “shellfies” and “shellebrating” with events and shares on social media. Millions of turtle lovers in the U.S., Canada, Pakistan, Borneo, India, Australia, the UK, Greece and many other countries worldwide now observe the day.

This year’s theme “Turtles Rock!” encourages a worldwide audience to see turtles as more than just rocks with legs. 

This is why World Turtle Day matters to us: Turtles and tortoises thrived for 200 million years, but now because of climate change and habitat destruction, and other human activities, they are rapidly disappearing. About 61% of turtle worldwide are threatened or already extinct. According to experts, turtles are the most threatened of the major groups of vertebrates, more so than birds, mammals and fish.

So Happy World Turtle Day, everybody! 

DEEPER DIVE: World Turtle Day, American Tortoise Rescue, Wikipedia

2021 ECO-COMEDY AWARD WINNERS ANNOUNCED

In Washington, DC, American University’s Center for Environmental Filmmaking recently hosted its 10th annual Eco-Comedy Video Competition ceremony.

The Eco-Comedy Video Competition was created by the American University School of Communication’S (SOC) Center for Environmental Filmmaking(CEF) AND  The Nature Conservancy on the premise that getting people to laugh can be the first step in getting them to engage with environmental challenges that are often seen as too complex or too pervasive to change.

Co-hosts included The Nature Conservancy, the Smithsonian National Zoo, AU’s Office of Sustainability, AU’s Center for Media and Social Impact, and the AU School of Communication. This year’s theme was “Your Favorite Wild Animal”. 

Congratulations to the award-winners. And without further adieu here they are:

K-8 Category: The Rat Man – A Mockumentary by Winston West, a 12-year-old from D.C. His video is about a vigilante rodent hunter who’s not very good at his job

College/University Category:

The Croc Shock, a stop motion animation by Trinity Ross from Australia 

Nonstudent Category:

Winner: A Tardigrade Thank You   a dark comedy about human’s impact on the world seen through the eyes of water bears, by Robert Boyd an AU Center for Environmental Filmmaking  Alumni 

AND in the Honorable Mention Category:

A Day in the Life- Blue-Footed Booby  About a day in the life of a blue-footed booby during lockdown. Created by Sam Wright from London, England via Tiktok 

To screen all the winners and the runners up, surf on over to TheClimate.org/episodes and click on the Deeper Dive links at the end of the transcript for today’s show.

DEEPER DIVE: CEF ECO-COMEDY AWARDS